Hello:

I'm thinking about building myself another computer. This time, though, I'd like to try liquid cooling. If I buy a kit, will it mount onto any video card or do you have to choose a certain video card?

Thanks,

Magus

Yes, you will need to select a card that has a compatible water cooling block if you want it to be water cooled as well: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....lock+%26+Cooler

Be careful what you choose.
Koolance and thermaltech a very poor when it comes to watercooling (avoid aluminium the best you can).
If you don't want to build a custom kit, you can buy premade custom kit at NCIXUS.com (I'm sure other places offer them that I'm not aware of) or you can buy a kit from Swiftech.

Waterblocks are fairly similar to air coolers, one will not fit them all. In the case of full coverage blocks built by manufactures such as EK and Danger Den (DD), they will normally only fit one particular card. If you want a block that's can be used on a large veriety of cards, you want the MCW60 from Swiftech.

There is a lot to take into consideration when building a water loop and if you have any questions or concerns just post here.
James

Alot of CPU/VGA water blocks are usuable on all cards with "universal" mounting clips that you adjust to fit the holes on your card. Make sure to read up on it before you buy it. The better quality ones have a copper base and must be machined perfectly flat. Personally, I would buy the water block to fit the VGA card, not buy a VGA card to fit the water block. If you are planning on buying an 8800, then I would reccomend a block designed specifically for this.
For first time LC builders I recommend the Thermaltake Bigwater, they are fairly easy to setup for an intermediate system builder. External reserators are also easy to setup and maintain with little fuss, and they can look quite good.
I like DangerDen liquid cooling products, I have found they are generally the better quality.

Thermaltake Bigwater
Thermaltake VGA block. It has the universal clip that suits most cards.

For the 8800 I recommend this
It has more contact on the card and gives better performance


This post has been edited by sarahw: Apr 1 2008, 03:46 AM

Do not buy the thermaltech big water series, they aren't very good.
The rad is composed of aluminum and the CPU is composed of cooper, this will cause a chemical reactions within your loop if you do not use the proper coolant and additives. Furthermore, that setup uses a 120mm rad, it will not be able to keep up with both a quad (or a heavily overclocked dual) and a high end GPU.
While full coverage cards look much better, they don't offer much more then the MCW60 then a few degrees difference but cost significantly more (think double or tripple). Not only that, most full coverage blocks will only fit 2 or 3 cards at the very most, many will only fit on a single card type.

I recommend this
http://www.ncixus.com/products/29033/ESSEN...0-H20-KIT/NCIX/
and
http://www.ncixus.com/products/23008/MCW60-R/Swiftech/
Will this be as compact? No, But you're getting what you paid for. If you are not willing to spend 200$ on watercooling, you'd be much better off buying a high end air cooling setup.
James

This post has been edited by james_8970: Apr 2 2008, 08:47 AM